I used to celebrate this every year for about 20 years of marriage with my wife until she pointed out the origin: International Women’s Day (IWD) originated in the early 20th century as a socialist and labor movement initiative, not a communist one, though it became closely associated with communist states later. It was first proposed in 1910 by Clara Zetkin, a German Marxist and advocate for women’s rights, at the Second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The goal was to promote women’s labor rights, suffrage, and gender equality within the broader struggle for workers’ rights. While IWD was later adopted and celebrated by communist regimes such as the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba—where it was used as a platform to highlight women’s roles in the workforce and nation-building—its roots are in socialist activism, not a deliberate strategy to discourage family life. In fact, Soviet and other communist governments often promoted motherhood and family life through state policies, including paid maternity leave and childcare support, even as they emphasized women’s participation in the economy. The claim that IWD was created to keep women from having families or children is a misrepresentation. The original intent was to mobilize women for collective action and social justice, not to undermine family structures. Over time, especially after the United Nations officially recognized IWD in 1977, it evolved into a global platform for gender equality, focusing on issues like pay equity, reproductive rights, and ending violence against women—issues that transcend any single ideology. Today, IWD is celebrated in diverse ways: as a day of activism, reflection, and advocacy
